Reader question: To invest or not to invest in real estate in Thailand?

Jan, I'm curious too. To all appearances, the situation would change in 2562 (so within 2 years).
“obbetoh and prataan obbetoh” would be abolished. the administration surrounding the properties would be reformed. Can you wait and see about the situation?
Thimpe

Dear Jan Jaap
Only if your wife is Thai can she get it in her name . A foreigner never gets the land in his name
You are almost 70 .
Just rent and spend your money on other fun things instead of buying
Gr Peter

Dear Jan Jaap, you are already 82 years old before you have earned back the purchase price of the 7nd bungalow through a return of 2% per year. From the point of view of readily available funds, it seems to me that it makes little sense to invest in a 2nd bungalow. Of course you can also think that you sell the bungalow in that period of 14 years, the question is whether you can realize a higher yield than the purchase price, that could be possible, but in Thailand an existing home is not always so easy to sell .
You have also apparently not thought about the fact that you cannot own land in Thailand, so I don't know how you would want to purchase bungalows 1 and 2. You can set up a company, but that also entails costs that are at the expense of the return. The question is also whether you can own 2 bungalows in that company without running into the fact that you need a work permit, which is not in line with being retired in Thailand and staying on a retirement visa. 1 bungalow might still be possible, ask an expert in Thailand, it goes too far to work it all out in detail here, see the rest of my speech.
I could go on, but my experiences in Thailand are not positive as far as these kinds of plans are concerned. Your friend gives you the right advice, but I believe that quality tourists will continue to come to Thailand. I do not consider the repercussions of the junta and instability to be so relevant as to advise you against this. 68 years old and investing in such a business just doesn't seem like a good plan to me. There will be others who think very differently about that, but this is my advice, don't do it.
If you still want to own a bungalow and you are both not Thai, I advise you not to do this.
Hope my train of thought is of some use to you, think before you leap.

Your acquaintance is right! Do not!
There are plenty of opportunities in our country with a well-diversified portfolio
for a reasonable return. Risk is much greater in Thailand because of the uncertainty
future expectations.
I wish you much wisdom

How do you want to do this, as a foreigner you cannot buy land privately so building a house does not seem useful. I would strongly advise against this.

Dear Jan Jaap,

If you want to buy a second bungalow in Thailand, it is not a bad idea as an investment.
But I think that a Condominium by the sea will be a better investment, because it is easier to rent it out and you can also put this Condo for 100% in your own name, which is not possible with a house with land, only with a company construction ... .
If you are going to invest in Thailand, take a good look at the location.
I also bought some condos to rent out myself, and it's true what your friend says, there are hardly any European vacationers, but then you just rent to those Chinese or Russians, because that's what I do too.
Putting money in the bank costs money, and if you invest it well in the right property in Thailand, you can sometimes get more than 7% return.
I have already helped many people with a good investment, so if you want HONEST ADVICE, you can email me at:
[email protected]

Best regards,

Josh.

Is Thailand politically unstable? Yes, and it will stay that way for now.
Is there a junta in power? Yes.
Is it unpredictable? That is difficult to predict.
Are there many c/r/a/i tourists? Yes.
Does that keep European quality tourists away? The Chinese spend the most per day, Europeans the least. See: https://goo.gl/photos/je4iM4aRH821b5pTA
Furthermore, you must of course first determine the place, after all you must live there yourself and the location is the main price-determining element in real estate.
Assume a bungalow of 4.000.000, which you can rent out for 35.000 per month, with an occupancy rate of 70%. Then the gross return is 7.35%.
I will leave aside how you deal with property and taxes.
If you assume 2% maintenance costs per year, you will be left with 5.35% gross.
With an investment of 100.000 euros, that is 445 euros per month. With all the associated risks, you then live almost permanently next to your tenants, who of course never have anything to complain about.
Does the house still need to be insured? Do you arrange the rental yourself?
If the situation in Thailand deteriorates, the property can no longer be rented out, let alone sold. Will you lose your 200.000 euros for the two homes without sleeping badly?
You have good knowledge.

If you invest for 5 years, for a minimum amount of 10 million Baht in real estate, you are entitled to 1 Rai of land that you can own. Within 2 years you must build a home on that Rai land that may only be used for your own use.
Question is what your rights are after 5 years….

I have the impression that the participants in this topic who respond positively are participants who do rent and those who advise against it, are participants who do not rent and are therefore not “experience experts”. Let me take an example of my own. We (my partner and I lease) bought a run-down house to rent out in Pattaya Tropical Village at the end of last year. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, western kitchen, spacious sitting and dining room, swimming pool, grounds 396 m2. The purchase price was 3,500,000 baht. If we put that amount in the bank for a year, at a net return of 1,45%, it will yield 50,000 baht. The house has been rented this year from January to July at 27,000 baht = 189,000 baht. This month we did some painting and a week ago we put it up for rent again. There have been three possible interested parties in the meantime. Suppose we rent it out for another 3 months this year = (3 x 27000) 81000 baht. Total: 270,000 rent versus 50,000 from the bank. Suppose we really want to rent out nonstop and we ask an arsi low price: 20000 / month, that is the entrance fee of 240,000 baht.

Keep in mind that in the future “real estate” taxes will have to be paid.
The government has not yet agreed from what amount this will apply; the effective date is provisional
not fixed yet.

In 2000 we bought a condo in Pattaya. Rented it out on an annual basis for the first 2 years and earned good money. There was control by compatriots who lived next door for a large part of the year. When the control became less, it also became less and less rented out. When we came to Pattaya, it was of course always rented out because it was high season. For example, we had a condo for more than 10 years that we never stayed in. We always had a good piggy bank in our Thai bank account. But because there were costs (never paid 1 baht fees all this time) and didn't intend to live in it ourselves for several months, we decided to sell it. Sold for the purchase price (minor renovation included) without any problem. The only drawback was that in 2000 the baht was much higher than when we sold. So we would lose a lot in exchange costs. So we decided to leave the money in Thailand. Got a nice interest on top five or six years ago. When we go on leave now going I only pay for my tickets and on the spot it LOOKS like everything is free, just don't forget to go to the ATM on time. To conclude: I'm glad I made the investment once, but I'm also glad I sold again have and can go on holiday for many years for FREE

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-condo-owners-warned-holiday-rentals-less-than-30-days-risks-fines-jail-time-58095.php#Rg7Sr14Zv4FrVlsD.97